The visual vocabulary of Celtic design expresses many messages.
Those who are attracted to these symbols and designs in modern times and who
choose to use the motifs of ancient times in today's world are often frustrated
by an apparent lack of reliable information about their meanings.

Scholars are very cautious about
assigning meaning to a specific knot or spiral. There are really only a few
"official" Celtic symbols with widely accepted meanings. Some claims
about symbolism are shamelessly bogus statements invented by clever marketers.
Some modern innovation is, however, a valid expansion of the Celtic tradition as
it adapts to new times and new visions and should be considered authentic in
this context.

There is a common expectation that the meaning
attached to a symbol in modern times should be the same that ancient artists
intended for that same symbol. Everything changes with time. Our present
interest in Celtic design does not simply skip a thousand years
from the age of the Book of Kells to the present. Many of these symbols have
been used in every century since the Dark Ages.

The art of the Celtic Revival
of the 19th and 20th centuries is as much the heritage of the CyberCelt of
the Third Millennium as is the magnificent Celtic Art of Pagan and early
Christian times. A few Celtic motifs have meanings that are
more-or-less a consensus of contemporary Celtic designers and artists. The
meanings attached to these symbols can often be traced to the rediscovery of
Ireland's cultural history in Victorian times as well as the emerging sense of
national identity in Scotland, Wales, Isle of Man, Cornwall and Brittany as
these cultures struggled to maintain their unique traditions and
characteristics.

The current Renaissance of Celtic Art adds new agendas and a new
imagination about how the old relates to the new. Some recent Celtic symbolism is
very innovative adaptations of contemporary concerns, intellectual fashions and
spiritual trends. Artists are by their nature creative and imaginative. An
intuitive sense of symbolism should be recognized for what it is; the communicative
intent of the artist.

The following explanations are
offered as a guide to understanding some of the more important symbols
and emblems of Celtic Art. The links are to in depth articles on each
topic.

There is a common folklore that each knot has a specific
meaning. The problem with this idea is that there are no facts to back
it up. There is no "Rosetta Stone" or reliable "dictionary" of
knots. A
general symbolism of Celtic interlacecan be
expressed as representing the repeated crossings of the spiritual and
physical paths in our lives. The never ending path is often said to
represent "permanence and the continuum of life, love and
faith". How valid is this statement in an historical sense? Read
more.

Eternity Knot There is not just one knot that can be called an
"Eternity Knot". Any knot that has a closed path, with no
beginning or end may be symbolic of eternity or continuum. It is debatable if
this was ever the intentional meaning of ancient scribes, but since this meaning
was suggested by the great Scottish Celtic art teacher of the 20th century,
George Bain, it has been an accepted meaning by many artists and craftsmen.
Since knotwork is often used as an emblem of heritage, the symbolism of "continuum" reinforces the endurance of the tradition.

Lover's knot Likewise any knot can be a "lover's knot". Most
commonly knots that link separate path's are used as lover's knots. The
"Josephine Knot" or "Granny knot" is a linking knot
that is frequently called a lover's knot.

Heart knots are a rather recent
addition to Celtic symbolism. Hearts as symbols of "love" date from
the later medieval period but have become an established part of the
contemporary Celtic repertoire in the last decade of the 20th century.

The cross with its characteristic
circle is probably the most widely recognized of all Celtic symbols. Large
stone crosses, known as "High Crosses" emerged as a major
sculptural tradition in Ireland, Scotland and other Celtic lands from the
9th century or earlier. During the Celtic Revival new monuments in this
style were crafted that added a self-conscious message of Celtic heritage
to the widely recognized emblem of the Christian faith. The circle
is often described as an halo or an eternity symbol. Much has been made of
the similarity between the Celtic Cross and pagan sun symbols. There
is a mystic tradition among Celtic Christians of interpreting this as a clairvoyant
anticipation of the coming Gospel by the pre-Christian Druids.

The four winged creatures of the prophesies of Ezekiel
and The Revelations of St. John came to be identified with the
four Evangelists in early Christian symbolism as early as the 2nd
century. The Man symbolized St. Mathew, the Lion St. Mark, the
Calf St.
Luke and the Eagle St. John. In the 4th century, St. Gregory wrote
a commentary on Ezekiel identifying the four symbols as the stages of
Christ's life. Christ was born a man, in his death he was sacrificed as
a calf, a lion in his resurrection and an eagle in his ascension to
heaven.

In early Gospel books, including the great Celtic
Gospel manuscripts of Kells and Durrow, the symbols of the
Evangelists were represented arrayed around the cross and also
individually at the beginning each Gospel. Reproduced details from these
historic sources as well as original compositions in the Celtic
tradition have drawn on these sources, such as the Evangelists Cross
by artist Lisa Laughy
shown on the left.

Spirals

After interlace, spirals are the most commonly recognized
of Celtic design motifs. Spirals are among the most primal of the human
artistic vocabulary and are found in most artistic traditions. Spirals
adorn Irish Stone Age monuments at Newgrange, dating from 2,500 B.
C. The La Tene style of spiral ornament is the defining
artistic characteristic of the Celtic Iron Age. In the Golden Age of
Celtic Art, beginning in the 7th century A. D. a very complex style of
spiral ornament emerged that is referred to as Ultimate La Tene.

Spirals in nature such as snails or
plants and in natural phenomena
such as whirlpools or galaxies, give the mind much in the way of
metaphors for cosmic symbolism. These sort of nature relationships are
frequently and quite validly used by modern Celtic artists as symbolic
content.

Another school of though gives significance
to the direction of the spirals. Clockwise or sunwise circling, a'deasail,
is traditional in Gaelic blessing gestures and good-luck practices. To
move sun-wise is to be in harmony with the earth. Conversely geis
or spells are made with anti-sun-wise motion. This gets a little tricky
since spirals may be read as either flowing inwards or outwards. Many
spiral arrangements contain equal numbers of whorls going each way and
are thus in balance. The numbers of whorls or the number of arms of
spirals can be used as number symbols, the most common being three for
the Holy Trinity and four for the Four Directions.

Like knotwork, the style of spirals themselves are
in modern times symbolic as an emblem of Celtic culture. There is no
hard and fast universal meaning for Celtic spirals. They may be created
simply for the sake or their beauty but there is much
room for creative and imaginative, even playful interpretations.